"Loft" has to be among golf's most-overlooked and least-understood terms. Simply put, it refers to the angle of a club's face, which significantly affects the trajectory of a golf ball. In a typical set of irons, the club lofts range from about 16 degrees to about 44 degrees, with balls struck by higher-loft clubs (like a nine-iron or pitching wedge) traveling higher and not as far as balls struck by lower-loft clubs. Since the irons with the greatest loft also have the shortest range, they're generally considered the most accurate clubs, and the easiest for golfers to control.

Beyond these basic facts, loft also ranks as golf's most baffling specification. For one thing the loft of a wood is measured differently from the loft of an iron. While an iron's loft refers to the angle between the face of the club and the centerline of the neck, or hosel, a wood's loft corresponds to the angle between the bottom, or sole of the club, and its face.

To further confound matters, there is no loft standard for club manufacturers. One company's five-iron may have a 30-degree loft, and another's may be set at 26 degrees. One thing all sets of clubs do seem to have in common, however, is a three- or four-degree loft differential between consecutive irons.

Golf experts offer two thoughts to players who tend to fret about loft angles: First, don't worry too much about getting stuck with clubs that have the wrong loft--the angle can be machine-adjusted as much as 2 degrees; and, second, it's the swing that matters the most. With a good swing, the loft will get the ball in the air.